Shut Up and Dance
by kay-emm-gee
Summary: Bellamy does not dance (repeat: does. not. dance.), but when the delinquents stumble across an old MP3 player and Raven gets the old thing working, not even he may be able to resist the urge to have some fun, especially when Clarke's involved.


_I've been obsessed with this song (Shut Up and Dance by Walk the Moon) for months now, so I decided to use it to write a fun piece with these crazy kids._

* * *

Jasper found the MP3 player during one of their scavenging trips to the underground parking lot near Mount Weather. After retrieving it from a car's cupholder, it wasn't even in his hands for even a full minute before Raven jacked it. _Mine!_ she proclaimed gleefully, her fingers dancing over the scratched screen. Trying the finders-keepers route, Jasper insisted it was his but lacked a comeback when Raven asked him: _do __you__ have the engineering skills to get this baby up and running?_ He pouted for the rest of their time in the lot, until Raven rolled her eyes and told him it would belong to the group after she fixed it, so _stop with the temper tantrum already_. With a meek smile, Jasper nodded, and Raven scoffed under her breath about goddamn needy children.

For the entire way back to Camp Jaha, she kept turning the player over and over in her hand, banging it against her brace to a quick beat. Each _tap-tap, tap-tap-tap_ made Bellamy's jaw tighten just a bit more, until Monty started humming and Jasper began whistling, and then he felt his cheek muscles progress to full-on annoyed tick. He saw Clarke trying to hide a smile as they continued to trek across the uneven forest floor, but when Octavia started leaping across logs and dipping under low-hanging tree branches with exaggerated flair, her grin couldn't be held back. Bellamy sighed out a long _why-me_ breath, dreading the remaining hour-long trek back to camp with this crew and their racket.

Upon returning, they all retreated to Raven's workroom, which had become a sort of private sanctuary for them at the camp. As Bellamy and the rest of them sorted through their haul, trading trinkets and organizing important finds, Raven focused solely on the MP3 player. In under a minute, she cracked it open and had the electrical boards splayed out in front of her. By the time Bellamy finished his inventory list, handing it off to Clarke to pass on to the Council, Raven had pieced the player back together and was hooking it up to a battery source as well as the room's speaker system. While he and Clarke moved back to sit on two stools in the corner, Jasper, Monty, and Octavia crowded around Raven in anticipation as she nervously pressed the power button.

A small tinkling sound echoed in the silent room as the player tuned on, quickly followed by whoops and roars of approval from the four at the table. Bellamy rolled his eyes, and Clarke just chuckled under her breath.

"Do I rock or what," Raven gushed as she squinted at the screen, reaching her thumb up to scroll through the music. In her typical impatient fashion, she skipped through several songs before they even got to the first chorus. The player's contents seemed fairly varied, something Bellamy felt they all could be thankful for. Finally, Raven settled on a very upbeat, fast-paced pop-rock song with catchy lyrics, a bit unexpected for her, but it seemed to be a hit with the group, and even he could consider it tolerable.

_We were victims of the night_

_The chemical, physical kryptonite_

When Bellamy saw Octavia's eyes light up with joy at the tune, he couldn't help but smile as she pulled the wonder twins into the middle of the workroom floor. They started dancing enthusiastically, and Raven wasn't far behind in joining them. At the soft pattering sound to his left, he slid a wry glance at Clarke, who was surprisingly tapping her hands against her thighs. Returning his half-hearted admonishment with an unapologetic shrug and a smile, she continued patting to the beat, focus drifting back to their dancing friends.

Soon Monty and Jasper struck up a classic tango pose, strutting and floundering back and forth across the tiny room. Clarke's low, buoyant laughter at their antics mixed with the cheerful music, and the energy of the whole room rose. Raven dipped her hips a little lower, and Octavia twirled a little faster. Out of the corner of his eye, Bellamy saw Jasper and Monty creep up behind Clarke. The duo grinned at each other before swooping down on their unsuspecting victim, grabbing the back of her arms and propelling her off of her stool.

_Helpless to the bass and the fading light_

_Oh we were bound to get together_

_Bound to get together _

"Oh no, no, no, no," Clarke protested as she locked her knees and dug her heels into the floor. Her boots scraped harshly against the metal, but the element of surprise had given Jasper and Monty momentum. Despite her efforts, they managed to push her towards Octavia and Raven. Stumbling a bit before righting herself, Clarke turned quickly, but the two boys had blocked her in, forming a cage in front of her with their arms, shit-eating grins on their face.

"No you don't, Clarke," Jasper teased. "You gotta dance."

"Monty!" She pleaded.

"Nope. Not budging," he replied, and Bellamy was amusedly impressed with the conviction in his voice. Usually Monty folded to whatever Clarke wanted (yet didn't they all?) but this time the boy just jerked his head in time with the music, black hair swishing haphazardly. "Dance, Clarke."

"If I'm up here with a bum leg, you bet your ass you're gonna dance," Raven said over Clarke's shoulder, twisting her thin frame to the beat. "Now shake it."

Grinning, Octavia placed her hands on Clarke's hips from behind and started moving them in a ridiculously large circle. "Yeah, Clarke, shake it for us!"

Clarke batted Octavia's hands away, rolling her eyes. She tipped her head back, blonde hair spilling down her back, and then groaned out, "Fine."

Monty and Jasper whooped, letting their arms drop as Clarke finally began to move with the music.

_A backless dress and some beat-up sneaks,_

_My discothèque, Juliet teenage dream_

One thing became quickly evident: Clarke was a terrible dancer. Well, she was terrible in the technical sense. She couldn't seem to find the rhythm, just kind of bopped back and forth slightly, nodding her head a beat behind the drums. There was an endearing awkwardness to it though, which made her movements not completely inept. Her shy smile gave way to a quiet giggle as she watched Raven shimmy shamelessly and Octavia jump around with enthusiastic commitment.

Deep belly laughs erupted from all of the girls when Jasper grabbed Monty to begin waltzing around again, their uncoordinated movements just barely managing to avoid complete destruction of Raven's workroom.

"Watch it!" The mechanic finally yelled as Monty backed Jasper into a table littered with half-built contraptions that almost toppled to the floor.

"Sorry!" The two called in unison as they danced their way back to the group. As Clarke turned, still swaying calmly, to welcome them back into the fold, she glanced at Bellamy. His stomach dropped at the mischief in her expression.

_I felt it in my chest as she looked at me._

_I knew we were bound to be together,_

_Bound to be together_

"What, you think you're exempt?" Clarke asked as she slipped out of the thrashing group.

Unfolding his arms across his chest, he jerked up his chin and said, "I don't dance."

"Neither do I," she said, grinning, as she bounced a little more intensely. Darting forward, she grabbed his hand and tugged. "Come on, up you go."

Bellamy tugged back, shaking his head. "Oh no, I do not dance. Do not dance."

"Get up!" She demanded, giving his arm surprisingly forceful jerk. It actually managed to pull him out of his chair. (He'd be lying if he said he was putting all his strength into resisting her).

_She took my arm,_

_I don't know how it happened._

A cheer went up from the boys, Raven cackled, and Octavia smiled, so brightly. _Aw hell_. Between his sister's smile and Clarke's happy eyes, he didn't stand a chance.

Clarke laughed as she saw him stare resignedly at his sister. "Gotcha!" She whispered, leaning into him. He dropped his head in defeat, letting her pull him towards the other four. Jasper had progressed to full-out flailing, despite the very high chance of him causing injury to someone else. Raven just cheered him on, still twisting her hips with considerable skill. Octavia had grabbed Monty, and they were twirling around, jumping to the beat, singing the finally-learned chorus at the top of their lungs.

As Clarke wiggled back into the group, she didn't let go of his hand. With their fingers intertwined, she raised their hands, waving them back and forth as the chorus repeated. Bellamy didn't move anything else (because really, he did not dance), letting Clarke do the dancing for him.

_We took the floor and she said,_

_"Oh, don't you dare look back_

_Just keep your eyes on me."_

"Just getting off your butt doesn't count," she said, twirling herself under his stiff arm. She pulled her hand away. "You have to dance. Actively." She leaned left then right, jerkily, her smile lighting up her blue eyes.

"Clarke, you're just shifting from one foot to the other. I hardly call that dancing."

"You want to see dancing?" Her hand went to her hip, which stuck out to the right, and her smile got bigger. "Fine, I won't hold back then."

_I said, "You're holding back,"_

_She said, "Shut up and dance with me!"_

She started off slow, just bopping like she had been. Then she added a hop, and jump. Laughter bubbled out of her, and Octavia whistled. Clarke bobbled her head, her blonde hair flying every which way, smacking Raven in the mouth.

"Go for it, princess," the mechanic called over the increasingly loud drum beat.

And Clarke was going for it. She wiggled low, making eye contact with an exuberant Jasper who was now pretending to play the guitar. Bellamy couldn't help but laugh; they were ridiculous. Also, with Clarke's attention elsewhere, he figured it was his chance to escape the crazy. Slowly, he began to back towards his stool.

"HEY." Clarke stood still, finger pointed at him, eyes squinted. "Don't you dare."

_This woman is my destiny_

This time she grabbed both of his hands, pushing and pulling on them until they were twisting in rhythm with one another. Her eyes shined brightly when he gave in, loosening up. She brought him down low, then raised their arms above their head, laughing the whole time.

The music climbed in energy, and Bellamy couldn't believe it, but yes, that was his head nodding along with the beat. As the guitar trilled to start the final round of the spirited chorus, there he was, mouthing the lyrics and jamming along to the melody along with the rest of them. Clarke smiled up at him, eyes twinkling in approval as she shimmied into him. His hands came to gently grip her twisting hips, her hands resting on his upper arms. Leaning into him, she tipped her chin up to meet his gaze, smiling in satisfaction at his own happy grin, as she finished off the chorus and said:

_Oh, oh oh oh_

_Shut up and dance with me_


End file.
